Tag: behavior

Starting them is not so; but the art of maintaining good relationships is extremely difficult. In truth, although there are obviously different levels, it takes almost nothing for them to develop. A little goodwill, a little courtesy, and they happen. Maintaining them at this healthy level, however, requires wisdom; especially with those that seem most promising, most authentic, and most beneficial. Distance destroys them, and so does closeness. Without balance, vulgarity enters the picture; and then the worst can no longer be avoided. Better to watch them wither away through absence, preserving their memory, than to witness the misery of their deterioration!

The scandal is, above all, sad. And far more distressing than the events that sparked it is the widespread misery it tends to lay bare. It spreads, spilling beyond its own boundaries; it stirs up and brings to the surface the most despicable aspects of human nature, from repugnant slander to that shameful schadenfreude. Anyone who observes this phenomenon ends up convinced he is living among swine. The frenzied gossip, the presumptuous tone, the demonic pleasure in accusing: all of this provokes a feeling of utter revulsion.

Modern man may dismiss as nonsense the advice of the advocates of long walks—a numerous group ranging from Nietzsche to Taleb—but the truth is that life changes noticeably, and for the better, when one cultivates the habit of walking. Certainly, one cannot always walk like those men, long and carefree, turning the walk into a kind of meditation in motion; however, the man who replaces traffic, public transportation, and cars with walking, allowing it and its effects to become part of his routine, instead of and in place of the inevitable wear and tear caused by those, will find that his life has become significantly better. Few things are as certain as this: moving with one’s own body, through one’s own effort, at a natural pace, every day, completely changes the mood with which one wakes up in the mornings.

The problem with relationships is that, generally speaking, what one gains from them is little compared to what one must do to sustain them; that is to say, this is true of ordinary relationships, and when this is not the case, on the rare occasions when it is not, then one has found a relationship of true value. For such a relationship, which develops and endures naturally, without the parties having to pretend or temporarily feign being something they are not, the effort made is to nurture it, ensuring it does not fade due to distance or deteriorate through trivialization. Even so, there is a risk that it will become trapped by circumstances, subject to the dynamics of life, and thus run the risk of perishing. But a single relationship of this nature is enough to completely change one’s conception of life.